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FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE NEWS RELEASE # 3 FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA The Opinions handed down on the 19th day of January, 2005 , are as follows:

BY CALOGERO, C.J. :

2004-CA-2147

GREATER NEW ORLEANS EXPRESSWAY COMMISSION v. HONORABLE REBECCA M. OLIVIER, JUDGE FIRST PARISH COURT, DIVISION "A" AND HONORABLE GEORGE W. GIACOBBE, JUDGE FIRST PARISH COURT, DIVISION "B" (Parish of Jefferson) The district court's holding that the defendant judges had standing to challenge the constitutionality of La. Rev. Stat. 32:57 is reversed, and its judgment finding the statute unconstitutional and denying the Commission's petition for writ of mandamus is vacated and set aside. In light of our ruling in this case, it becomes unnecessary for the court to decide the constitutional issue at this time. We remand the case to the district court with instructions to find that defendants did not have standing to raise the constitutional issue as a defense, and to permit the litigation to go forward. VACATED, SET ASIDE, AND REMANDED. JOHNSON, J., dissents and assigns reasons. WEIMER, J., concurs and assigns reasons.

01/19/05 SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 04-CA-2147 GREATER NEW ORLEANS EXPRESSWAY COMMISSION VERSUS HONORABLE REBECCA M. OLIVIER, JUDGE FIRST PARISH COURT, DIVISION "A" and HONORABLE GEORGE W. GIACOBBE, JUDGE FIRST PARISH COURT, DIVISION "B" ON APPEAL FROM THE TWENTY-FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, FOR THE PARISH OF JEFFERSON HONORABLE KERNAN A. HAND, JUDGE CALOGERO, Chief Justice This case presents the issue of whether Louisiana law permits a judge to refuse to perform a statutory duty that is ministerial in nature, presumably in order to precipitate a mandamus action in which the judge will have the opportunity to argue that the statute is not constitutional. We hold that a judicial officer, like any other public officer, lacks standing to raise the constitutionality of a statute as a defense in a mandamus action seeking to compel the performance of duties that are mandated by statute and ministerial in nature. Thus, defendants here were without standing to raise the issue of the constitutionality of La. Rev. Stat. 32:57(G), and the district court erred in considering this argument. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY: The plaintiff in this case, Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission ("the Commission"), is responsible for policing the Huey P. Long Bridge and operating, maintaining, and policing the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway Bridge. In December 2001, the Commission filed a petition for writ of mandamus against the defendants, two First Parish Court judges, to compel them to collect costs from certain traffic violators, as required by La. Rev. Stat. 32:57(G). The judges had refused to collect

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this cost, believing that the statute was unconstitutional. Under La. Rev. Stat. 32:57(G)(1), a "cost" of five dollars1 shall be collected from "any person who is found guilty, pleads guilty, or pleads nolo contendere to any motor vehicle offense when the citation was issued for a violation on the Huey P. Long Bridge or the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge or approaches to and from such bridges." The five dollar cost only applies, however, where the citation was issued by Commission police officers. Id.2 The proceeds are initially to be deposited in the state treasury, then later moved into a "special fund" known as the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission Additional Cost Fund. Id. (G)(2). The statute then directs the legislature to appropriate all money in the special fund to the Commission to "supplement the salaries of P.O.S.T. certified officers and for the acquisition or upkeep of police equipment." Id. The district court denied the Commission's petition for mandamus. In its reasons for judgment, the court found that the defendants had standing to question the constitutionality of the statute, and that the statute violated several provisions of the constitution.3 The Commission appealed this judgment directly to this court. We held that we lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal under La. Const. art. V,

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